The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1887-02-03

absolutely nothing, u goes 20 the dying bed
and fills the man with anticipations. How
much better Il would be for him to have
him die without any more hope than swine
and rats and snakes. That is all. Nothing
more left Of him. He will never know any
thing again. Shovel him underi
The soul is only q superior part Of the
body, and when the body disintegrates the
soul disintegrates, Annihilstion, vacancy,
everlasting blank, obliteration. Why not
present all that beautiful doctrine TO the
dying instead Of something with this hoax,
this swindle Of the Christian religion, and
filling the dying man with anticipations Of
another life, until some in the last hour
have clapped their hands, and some have
shouted, and some have sung and
some have been so overwrought
with joy they could only look
ecstatic. Palace gates opening, they
thought: diamond coronets flashing; hands
reckoning; orchestTas sounding. Little
children dying, actually believing they saw
their departed parents, so that, although
the little children had been SO weak, and
BILE, and sick for weeks, they could not
turn on their dying pillow, at the last, in a
parOxysm OF rapture uncomfortable, they
sprang to their feet and shouted: Mother,
catch mel l am coming"
And TO show the immensely of this de
fusion, this awful swindle of ths Gospel OF
Jesus Christ, open hospital and bring
into that hos pital the death beds Of a great
many Christian people, and l take you by
the hand this morning, ard walk up and
down the wards OF that hospital, and l ask
a few questions. | ask: Dying Stephen,
what have you to sayr' Lord Jesus, re-
ceive my spirit" Dying John Wesley,
what have you to sayn THE best Of all
is, God is with us" Dying Edward
PAyson, what have you TO sayi"
IL float in sra of glory" "Dy
ing John Bradford, what have you &c
say" "If there be any way of
gong to Heaven Oh horse back, or in fiery
what have you to sayt" 81 am going to
sleep now-good- Dying Mrs.
Florence Foster, what have you to
sayt" pilgrim in the valley, but
the nt .atain tops all a CLEAN from
peak To oeJk." dying Alexander Mather,
what have you to say{" The Lord who
has taken care of me fifty years will not
cast me of now; glory be to God and to
the Lambl Amen, amen, amen, amen /"
dying John Powson, after preach
ing the Gospel so may years, what
have you to sayH' MY death bed
is q bed Of roses " dying DR.. Thomas
Scott, what have you to sayi" boys /
am going to the 'front.' Dying telegraph
operator on the battlefield VI Virginia,
what have you to sayH' THE wires are
all laid, and the poles are up from Stony
Point to headquarters dying Paul,
what have ven to say;" II am ready now
to be offered and the time of my departure
is at hand; have fought the good fight,
have finished ray course. have kept thr
faith q death, where is thy sting' Q
grave where is thy victoryt Thanks be
unto God, who glVeth us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ"
o, my Lord, my Cod what a delusion;
what u glorious drluson! Submerge Ine
with il, fill my eyes and ears with 1t, put
IT under my dying head for a pillow-this
delus ON; spread it over me for canopy,
put II underneath me for an Out-spread
W!ng-rolt il over me in ocean surges ten
Thousand falhums deep! o, If intdelIty,
and if atheism, and II humiliation are
reality, and the Christian religion is de
fusion, give NE the deusion!
The strong conclusion Of every man AMI
woman IN the house is that Christianity.
producing such grand results, can not be u
delusipn. liz, cheat, swndle, an hal
luCinatioI. Goa not launch such glory Of the
centuries Your logic and your common.
sense convince you that base cause can
not produce an illustrious result; out Of
the womb of such monster no such angel
can be born.
There are many in this house this mora
ing in the galleries and OH the main floor,
who began with thinking that the Chris
tian religion was stupid farce who have
come to the conclusion that it is a reality.
Why are You here tO-dayi Why did you
sing this song! Why did you bow your
heal in the opening prayer' Why did you
bring your family with you! Why, when
| tell you of the ending of all trials i'll the
bosom Of God, do there stand tears in your
cyes-not tears of grief, but tears of joy,
such as stand in the eyes OF homesck chill
dren far away at school when some one
talks to them about going homel Why
submissive to the death of your
loved one, about whose departure
you once were so angry and so rebelliouSi
There is something the matter with you.
All your friends have found out there is a
great change An If some of you would
give your exp 'rience, you would give it in
scholarly style, and others giving your ex.
pericnce would give it in broken style, but
the one exp ricace would be just as good
as the other. Some of you have read
every thing. You are scientific and you
are scholarly, and yet if l should ask you:
"What is the most sensible thing you ever
did," you would say: THE most sensible
thing / ever did was to give my heart to
God -
But there may be others here who have
not had early advantages, and If they
were asked to give their experience, they
might rise and give such testimony as the
man gave in d prayermeeting when he
.aiA =. ( In tn nj IFht mot q